Intravascular catheters are an indispensable modern medical device used commonly in many situations and especially in intensive care units (ICUs). The use of these catheters is essential to providing critical therapies and diagnostic services for patients but also places the patient at significant risk for a variety of catheter related bloodstream infections (CRBSI). Any time a catheter is accessed for introduction of therapeutic materials it is possible that foreign pathogenic organisms may also be introduced to the catheter lumen and eventually the bloodstream. Commonly, access sites are required to be scrubbed with solutions containing isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or other antimicrobial agent. These prophylactic measures are often time consuming, minimally effective and poorly complied with.
A need exists for methods and systems of insuring a sterile access site prior to access that minimizes the possibility of the introduction of pathogenic organisms to the catheter lumen.